On Thin Ice (3 page)

Katie frowned. She didn’t like the sound of that. Suzanne was definitely planning something. But what?

“Suzanne, are you walking home?” Katie asked as she walked out of the school at the end of the day.

Suzanne nodded. “But I’m waiting to talk to George first.”

Katie looked at her strangely. Suzanne never waited for George. She
hated
George. What was this all about?

It didn’t take Katie long to find out. A moment later, George came bounding down the steps with Kevin at his side.

“Hey, Katie Kazoo, you’ve gotta see George’s new illusion,” Kevin said. “It’s amazing.”

“Show it to us, George,” Suzanne said excitedly.

Kevin, George, and Katie all stared at her.

“Aw, go away, Suzanne,” George groaned.

“No. I want to see it,” Suzanne told him. “Honest.”

George looked at her as if he was waiting to make sure she wasn’t making fun of him.

Katie was wondering the same thing. But Suzanne really did look interested in George’s trick.

“Okay, so I start with these regular dice,” George said. He handed the two dice to Katie. “Katie Kazoo, please check them out and assure everyone that they’re completely normal.”

Katie studied the two plastic cubes. They looked like regular playing dice. They were white, with dots on every side. “Yep. Just everyday dice,” she said.

“Now I place the dice into the magic box,” George continued, putting the dice into a square box and closing the lid. “Then you say the magic words . . .”

“Abracadabra!” Katie, Suzanne, and Kevin shouted together.

George opened the box. There were two dice in there, all right. But they were completely blank.

“Whoa! Amazing!” Kevin exclaimed.

“Incredible,” Katie agreed.

“It’s okay . . .” Suzanne said slowly.

“Just okay?” Kevin asked. “Are you nuts? The Great Georgini is an awesome magician.”

“He’s pretty good,” Suzanne told him. “But I know how he could be better.”

“Of course you do,” George said sarcastically.

“No, I’m serious,” Suzanne told him. “Your trick was really good. You’re just missing something.”

“What?” George asked angrily.

“You need an assistant in a pretty sequined dress,” Suzanne said.

Katie sighed. So that was what this was all about.

“The Great Georgini doesn’t need an assistant,” Kevin told her.

“Sure he does,” Suzanne insisted. “Houdini had an assistant, didn’t he, George?”

George nodded. “He had a few of them.”

“Well, you only need one,” Suzanne continued. “And I know just the perfect person to do it. Me!”

“You?” George, Katie, and Kevin all asked at once.

“Sure,” Suzanne said. “I’ll make your act classier. And you’ll be more like Houdini.”

“Well . . .” George began.

“Great!” Suzanne exclaimed before George could say no. “Let’s go to your house right now and practice.”

“I . . . uh . . .” George stammered. “Okay. I guess.”

Suzanne smiled triumphantly. “We’re going to make a great team. Suzanne Superstar and the Great Georgini.”

“You mean the Great Georgini and his assistant, Suzanne,” George corrected her.

Suzanne shrugged. “We can discuss that later. Right now we have an act to put together.”

Just then, Jessica Haynes, Mandy, Miriam, and Emma S. walked out of the school building. They were all talking very excitedly.

“I’m going to wear my blue skating outfit,” Emma S. said. “It’s brand-new. And wait until you see the silver beads on the skirt!”

“Remember, you promised to show us how to skate backward,” Mandy told Emma S.

“Definitely,” Emma S. agreed. “And I’ll show you how to spin after that.”

“This is going to be the best party ever!” Jessica squealed.

“It sure is,” Suzanne interrupted.

Everyone stared at her in shock.

“No, I mean it,” Suzanne insisted. “A skating party is a great idea. And it’s about to get even better!”

“What are you talking about, Suzanne?” Emma S. asked suspiciously.

“I’m talking about the special entertainment you’re going to have while people are having cocoa and cookies,” Suzanne continued.

“
What
entertainment?” Emma S. asked her.

“The Great Georgini, and his amazing assistant, Suzanne Superstar!” Suzanne exclaimed.

“What? Suzanne . . .” George began, shaking his head.

“It will be fun,” Suzanne insisted.

Katie sighed. So that was what Suzanne had been cooking up. She’d found a way to make herself the star of Emma S.’s party. Suzanne really
was
amazing!

“It
would
be nice to have a show while we eat,” Emma S. agreed.

“What other tricks will you do?” Jessica asked George.

“Well, I . . .” George stammered. “I don’t know that many yet and . . .”

“That’s why we’re leaving now,” Suzanne said, pulling George by the arm. “The Great Georgini and I are about to put together the world’s most amazing magic act!”

Katie frowned as George and Suzanne walked away. Poor George. He’d gotten caught up in one Suzanne’s crazy schemes.

That was
so
not good.

“You’ve gotta hide me, Katie Kazoo,” George said as he hurried to catch up to Jeremy and Katie as they walked to the playground at recess on Friday.

“Hide you from what?” Katie asked him curiously.

“From Suzanne,” George said. “She’s making me nuts.”

“You could go hang out in the boys’ bathroom,” Jeremy suggested.

“Yeah, Suzanne can’t get you in there,” Katie agreed.

“I’ve done that before,” Jeremy said. “To get away from Becky.”

Katie nodded with understanding. Becky had a big crush on Jeremy. She was always following him around and flirting with him. Jeremy did
not
flirt back . . . at all!

“But I don’t want to spend my whole recess in the bathroom,” George said.

Just then, the three kids heard someone yelling across the playground. “Great Georgini! Are you ready to rehearse?”

George groaned at the sound of Suzanne’s loud voice. “Hanging out with the sinks and toilets would be better than spending recess with her,” he said as he ran back into the school building.

“Where did George go?” Suzanne asked Katie and Jeremy as she caught up to them near the big tree.

“Bathroom,” Jeremy said.

“Oh,” Suzanne said. “Well, I’ll just wait for him, I guess.”

“You’ll be waiting a long time,” Jeremy told her.

“Why?” Suzanne asked.

“He . . . um . . . he said his stomach was bothering him or something,” Katie said quickly. She didn’t want Suzanne’s feelings to be hurt.

“Oh, something’s bothering him all right,” Jeremy laughed. He looked straight at Suzanne.

“Why don’t we go play double Dutch jump rope?” Katie asked, pulling Suzanne away before Jeremy could say anything else. “George can find you when he comes out.”

“I guess,” Suzanne said with a shrug.

A few moments later, Katie and Suzanne were part of the big group of girls who were playing double Dutch jump rope. Emma W. was jumping and singing a rhyme about a teddy bear.

Ordinarily, the other girls would be chanting along with her. But today it seemed that none of the girls could focus on the game. They were all too excited.

“This is going to be such a great weekend,” Miriam said. “The party, and the show . . .”

“Oh, the show’s going to be amazing,” Suzanne told her. “George and I have worked up some great tricks.”

“I meant Kerry Gaffigan’s ice show,” Miriam explained.

“Oh,” Suzanne said with a shrug. “Yeah, I guess that will be good, too.”

Katie sighed.

“Your turn, Becky,” Emma W. said as she stepped on the rope and lost her turn. At the sound of Becky’s voice, Jeremy “Okay,” Becky said, jumping into the started to run! And Katie knew just where he ropes. As her feet moved up and down on was heading . . . the pavement, she began singing her rhyme. To spend recess with George—in the boys’ “Raspberry, blueberry, apple tart. Tell me the bathroom. name of my sweetheart. Is it A, B, C . . .”

Katie watched as Becky jumped up and down. She really was an amazing double Dutch jumper. She hardly ever missed.

Until now . . .

“G . . . H . . . I . . .
J
!” Becky shouted. “Oops,” she added as she stepped on one of the ropes.

“You
soooo
did that on purpose,” Jessica laughed. “You wanted to land on
J
for Jeremy.”

“I did not miss on purpose,” Becky insisted. “It was just fate. I guess Jeremy really is my sweetheart!” She looked around the yard. “Oooh. There he is, on the soccer field. Yoo-hoo! Jeremy! Wait until I tell you what just happened.”

“Okay, so to skate backward, start with your toes touching and your heels facing out, sort of like an upside-down V,” Emma S. told Katie, Jessica, Miriam, and Emma W. during her skating party the next day. “Then bend your knees and slide your heels together to make a right-side-up V. Just keep making Vs like that over and over, and you’ll move backward.”